20 Thai sailors return home after vessel attacked in Gulf

The Thai bulk carrier Mayuree Naree was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz on March 11. Twenty crew members have been rescued but three remain missing. Photo / Royal Thai Navy, AFP

Twenty Thai crew members of a cargo ship attacked in the crucial Strait of Hormuz arrived in Thailand on Monday, with three of their colleagues still stranded on the vessel in the Gulf.

The Thai-registered Mayuree Naree was hit by two projectiles on Wednesday while transiting through the Gulf waterway, after departing a port in the United Arab Emirates.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they had struck the Thai ship, as well as a Liberia-flagged vessel, in the strait because they had ignored “warnings”.

The 20 sailors landed at Thailand’s main international airport early Monday morning and were immediately escorted away by officials without speaking to gathered media.

The wife of one of the returned crew, who gave her name as Bass, told reporters she was still waiting to see her husband after the ordeal.

“We are all afraid, but they are employees – if they refuse to go [out to sea], they won’t get paid,” the 32-year-old woman said.

“I don’t know where they went or when they will return home. The company hasn’t told me anything.”

‘Highest priority’

Bass said she had only spoken with her husband over Facebook Messenger and had brought their 1-year-old son to the airport at her husband’s request.

AFP journalists saw the returning crew members board a bus after arriving at the airport.

When the Mayuree Naree was struck last week, Bass’ husband was only able to grab his phones before fleeing, she told reporters.

He had apologised to his wife for leaving on board a token from his son – a small pillow.

“I want [the company] to be sure during this war situation that the ship will be safe when it goes out,” she said.

“I want them to look at the employees like their own family. If one of them were their family, how would they decide?”

The vessel’s owner Precious Shipping said Monday the firm would provide “welfare support for the crew, including medical examinations and mental health assessments”.

Its “highest priority” remained the “continued efforts to locate the three crew members who are still missing”, it said.

The company said last week the three crew were “believed to be trapped in the engine room”, which was damaged in the attack.

Precious Shipping did not answer questions about the three crew from AFP on Monday.

Thailand was seeking assistance for them from two other nations, foreign ministry deputy spokeswoman Maratee Andamo said.

The Omani Navy rescued the 20 sailors on Wednesday, the Thai Navy said last week.

Since strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran more than two weeks ago ignited the Middle East war, the Islamic Republic has launched its own attacks against its oil-exporting neighbours.

The strikes have threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supplies usually pass, and have plunged the global energy economy into crisis.

– Agence France-Presse